INTRODUCTION TO GOOGLE ADWORDS : GETTING STARTED

Google is the world’s most used search engine. With billions of search queries monthly, it is regarded as the global leader in search marketing. Getting discovered in such a highly popular search engine is key to increasing your revenue as a business. How do we mean ? Let’s assume that your business is about furniture and when a user living around your locality queries the term ‘ buy furniture’ and your website pops up with relevant information relating, it is clear that they will contact you to make purchase. Such is the power of search marketing.
Google has a programme which allows advertisers to place their ads on their network. It could be a search ad, a video ad, an in app ad. Whatever your preference(s) are, google has advanced their scheme to provide a solution. So how does google ads work?
In this article, we will highlight the basics of Google adwords, how you can set up an account and how you can get started.LAUNCHING AN ADWORDS CAMPAIGN
Before you can launch an Adwords campaign, you will need to first of all create an Adwords account. This is fairly easy to do. Google helps you every step of the way so you don’t get stuck somewhere down the line. To run a successful campaign
1. You have to ensure that you write a proper advert copy.
2. Your copy must be compelling (i.e benefit of that advert, what people stand to gain from it)
3. Your copy must have a clear call to action (CTA)
4. Your copy must have a location
5. The landing page that the advert copy sends people to must be optimized in terms of the following
a. Look and feel
b. User Experience
c. CTA
d. Lead Generation form.
When setting up the campaign, ensure to properly categorize the ad groups and select the most relevant keyword for your business and the destination url.
Here is a copy of a baseball business setting up a search ad on Google adword:
Quality Sports Equipment
Sports wears and gears, gloves at cheap rates, Online order avaiable. Call now at 080….
www.sportswears.comWORKING WITH YOUR ADWORDS BUDGET
Google Adwords is relatively cheap but it is not free. Before we discuss budgeting for your Google adwords campaign, it would be best to introduce the concept of pay per click. Pay per click otherwise known as PPC refers to the situation where an advertiser pays only when someone clicks on their ad. This type of billing is known as Cost per click (CPC). Now there are other types of billing in search marketing, this is known as CPI ( Cost per million impression). In this situation, the advertiser pays when their ads is shown on timelines. This is not usually effective as people who saw the ad may not have clicked on it and yet the advertiser will still be charged
As soon as you set up your campaign, you have to think about the budget. Assuming you decide to spend $20 a day, what this means is that Google will continue displaying your ad until your budget is exhausted and in the case of CPC, until a sufficient number of people have clicked on your ad.
In setting up your budget for the Google Adword campaign, you can do any of the following :
i. Rotate your ad evenly throughout the day until your budget is finished
ii. Use up your daily budget as quickly as possible during the day by concentrating on particular time periods during the day.MAKING YOUR BID

While setting your Adwords budget, you’ll be asked to make a ‘bid’, that is, how much you’re willing to spend for every visitor that clicks on your link. Let’s say you settle at 25 cents for every visitor that clicks on your ad. Keeping your $10-a-day budget in mind, your ad will keep running until 40 people have clicked on your ad in a day. When that happens, Google will suspend your ad so that you don’t overspend for the given day. That’s the best part about Adwords in our opinion: you only spend the amount you’re willing to shell out.

Then again, it isn’t called the ‘bid’ for no reason. There are many other advertisers who, like you, are operating in the same field and vying for the search engine traffic’s attention. Let’s say there’s another baseball store down the road which is also using Adwords. Their bid is set at 30 cents for every visitor who clicks on their ad. By outbidding you, they have ensured a spot above you when someone searches for the relevant keywords. If you want a higher spot, simply bid for more than 30 cents per visitor.

You can change your payment settings and bidding amount at any time.
These are just the basics. There are tons of resources here that can help you if you are interested in learning more about the Google adwords programme.